Universities Would Still Hurt After Tuition Hike

Friday

TALLAHASSEE | On a day when Florida's universities seemed poised to receive a long-awaited 5 percent tuition increase, the mood was far from celebratory.

The increase - an extra $55 a semester for students - will only slightly offset the $70 million the Legislature is likely to cut from higher education.

The state's universities, facing one of their worst fiscal problems in years, will likely continue to freeze enrollment and will be unable to improve a teacher-student ratio that ranks among the worst in the country, officials said Thursday.

At best, said Bill Edmonds, a spokesman for the state's Board of Governors, the tuition increase may save the universities from being forced to lay off professors.

"We really do not want to be in the position of laying off faculty, but right now we're very worried about that, because of the scale of the budget cut we have to shoulder," Edmonds said. "If you're a dean and you're cutting your share of the cut and this means you don't have to cut an extra $200,000 from your department, then you're grateful to have it."

Also dampening the mood about more funding for state universities are the mixed signals coming from the governor's office. Gov. Charlie Crist doesn't like tuition increases. He vetoed a 5 percent tuition hike for university and community college students in May. But at the same time, Crist endorsed a law that allows the state's three research universities - University of South Florida, University of Florida and Florida State University - to raise their tuition by as much as 40 percent beginning next fall.

Crist, though, hasn't taken a position on the Legislature's latest tuition move - which will be debated in a 10-day special session that begins Wednesday.

"This is the beginning of the process," said Erin Isaac, a spokeswoman for the governor. "There is going to be a lot of give and take along the way."

The tuition increase received support Thursday from two groups - both of whom claim to have the authority to set fees for the state's 11 public universities. In committee meetings, state House and Senate members advanced proposals for resolving a$1 billion shortfall in the state budget that include a 5 percent tuition hike on Jan. 1 for university and community college students. In a separate action, the Board of Governors, the panel that oversees the universities, exercised its own authority for the first time, also backing a 5 percent increase for university students.

Their decisions underscore the current state of confusion about funding for higher education in Florida.

While the two government bodies agree on the need for higher tuition, they disagree on who has the power to impose it.

The Legislature is fighting the Board of Governors in a suit filed by former Gov. Bob Graham, who argues the 17-member board was given the power to raise tuition when voters created it in a 2002 constitutional amendment. The Legislature asserts that, since it writes the annual state budget, it has that power.

"God help our students if they win," Senate President Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, said at the time the tuition lawsuit was filed.

University students pay about $2,210 for two semesters now, not including fees for athletics and other programs. The state tuition rate is $2,500 below the national median, according to state university officials.

The proposed tuition increase will provide about$9.5 million to the state university system this year, although the schools still face about$70 million in budget cuts.

Rep. Joe Pickens, R-Palatka, the House leader on education spending, defended the tuition increase, arguing Florida has low rates; the state pays for75 percent of the funding for each student; and many students have their tuition covered by Bright Future scholarships.

"The totality of those circumstances, as I see it, puts me in a position to be incredibly comfortable with the recommendation of a tuition increase of a nominal amount," Pickens said.

Pickens said he was not sure how Crist would handle the latest legislative tuition proposal. "But if we didn't offer it up, it wouldn't be on the table to discuss," he said.

One of the arguments for supporting the Legislature's tuition increase is that it would also provide $11.4 million in extra funding for community colleges.

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